New York City!!!! Day 4

The last day in the city...boo! We made it a "late" morning and left around 10. The bus to FOREVER to get there and then to FOREVER to get into the city. It took us until 11 to get there. Then we had to ride downtown on the subway. When we arrived, we saw the WTC site (from only one side). That area is HUGE! It just amazed me how big the area was and then realized that on Sept 11, that area was just bedlam. There were so many buildings close by that looked untouched, though I'm sure they've been renovated/fixed up since then. Then we walked through Battle Park and caught the Staten Island Ferry. It was a nice ride over because we had the breeze. It wasn't quite as brisk on the way back but was still beautiful. We then "sprinted" to Brooklyn, as we were already late, to meet a friend at Grimaldi's for lunch. This was the BEST pizza! We had ham, mushroom, and onion. One thing that made it so good is that they use fresh mozzarella. Oh, so good. Then my parents and Holly had ice cream from a little shop under the bridge. I was determined to have gelato, so I didn't get any. After the walk across the bridge, we went to Chinatown and Little Italy...where I got my gelato! I had pistachio flavored. It was really good but I think I would have prefered a different flavor. Then we went to the Harley shop where Daddy did NOT get a $45 t-shirt! Too expensive...at least we had fun in F.A.O. Shwartz! That place is so much fun...too many pictures to show, but I did play of the BIG piano! When we left, we went to get dinner before our final Broadway show. Holly had mentioned this Argentinian place she used to work at, so we went there...Sosa Borella. It was great (and put ice in the water!). Daddy had lemon rosemary chicken with gorgonzolla mashed potatoes. Mama had a spinach ravioli with lamb bolognesse. I had the crab salad...mmmm! Perfect and light after pizza and gelato! THEN we went to Mary Poppins. This show was SO much fun! Not one that you want the CD for but very enjoyable. I wanted a Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down T-shirt but they don't make them! And so ended our trip to NYC. I really enjoyed it and would love to go back sometime. We had a great variety of food and there was so much more to sample!

New York City!!!! Day 3

No sleeping in for us on Tuesday...we were up bright and early to head to the TODAY show! We didn't do the super early thing and there was really no need. We arrived by 8:30 (after eating our GA peach for breakfast!) and I quickly found a spot on the far end of the outdoor area. My dad scooted behind the crowd and got a great shot of Meredith. Then they made their way to the front and called me over. We were on the show at the beginning of the 9 o'clock hour! So cool...we even came home with the script that Natalie Morales used during a segment. Such great weather, too. After the TODAY show we made our wayback to the M&M store, which was fun; but the better store was the Hershey's store. Mama found some great syrup and I found my favorite...Reese's! Then we traveled to the Central Park area and stopped in Alice's Tea Cup for an early lunch. It ended up being pretty good. Mama got the asparagus soup (which was good but I was glad I didn't have a whole bowl) and egg salad sandwich. Daddy had pesto tomato soup with curry chicken sandwich. I had the same sandwich as Daddy but whole. It was very good except no ice in the water...what is up with that and NY restaurants?! We then made our way to the American Museum of Natural History where we touched the moon, found an asteroid, and played with dinosaurs. After a walk through Central Park we decided to look for supper. WOW...we walked FOREVER. Know this...there is NOWHERE to eat on 5th Avenue! I think we walked from 77th street to 54th before we (I...it was my fault, I didn't want hamburger) found a great little Thai restaurant called Chai. It was perfect and hit the spot. Mama had cashew chicken. Daddy had grilled chicken. I had the special with stir fried chicken, snow peas, tomato, mango, and cashews...SO GOOD! We then decided to make it an "early" night and headed back to Secaucus. Of course, we stopped at Au Bon Pain for breakfast and nighttime snacks. The next day had BIG plans with great food to be sure!

New York City!!!! Day 2

After sleeping in (we decided that after being up for 20 hours the day before with traveling, walking, show, etc we would just wake up "naturally") and eating our pastries/muesli, we caught our bus into the city and went to Chelsea Market. This is such a fun little place. Unfortunately, we didn't think ahead to order tickets for something at Food Network (Guy Fieri was filming a show!). However, we did enjoy watching the people at Sarabeth's make some bread dough. Then we went to The Manhattan Fruit Exchange. WOW! This place has wonderful looking produce for cheap (like HALF what it is in MS). We even found GA peaches for 2lb/$1.49 (once again, less than half what it is in MS ON SALE!). They had a huge display of mushrooms, cheese, greens, and even FRESH almonds. Amazing! After that we walked around Greenwich Village trying to figure out what to do (bad idea...go with a plan!). finally, we decided to eat. Mama chose this deli that had a pay by the pound buffet. SO GOOD! I had broccolini, celophane noodle salad, curry chicken, grilled veggies, tomato cucumber salad, a piece of sesame pork, and cantelope. Yum! At this point we went back to scope out Rockefeller Plaza and got tickets for Mary Poppins! Then we made the subway trip to the Bronx for a Yankees game which we did NOT have tickets for. Not smart in the final season! We got there and the cheapest seats were $280!!! NO WAY! We sat around and Daddy stalked the ticket counters. Finally he found a vendor that got seats in Monument Park, an area in front of the visitors' bullpen with folding chairs. It ended up being a great seat! I got my yearly hot dog and enjoyed it. Then after the 7th inning we shared some Dip-N-Dots. YUM! We even got on the Jumbotron, saw 5 homeruns, and saw Mariano Rivera walk right past us! Made for a fun day. PS - Yankees lost 13-5!

New York City!!!! Day 1

This time last week, I was walking around New York City looking for something to eat. There was so much to choose from. We walked all the way to the theater and then decided to walk back to Hell's Kitchen and eat at Uncle Nick's Greek restaurant. I wasn't incredibly excited about it but it turned out to be pretty good. Daddy got lamb chops, Mama got traditional moussaka, and I got vegetable moussaka. We decided that the vegetable moussaka was better. Instead of the meat mixture it had spinach and feta. So good when put together with the bechamel. After dinner, we went to the Gershwin Theater to see Wicked. OH...it was so good! I can't wait to see it again, which hopefully I'll get to do as it is coming to Birmingham AND Memphis this year! After the play we hung around and got autographs from a couple of the actors (Boq and Fiyero!). Then we went back to our hotel in Newark. We stopped by a bread shop, Au Bon Pain, first to get breakfast, as our hotel only had a $12 buffet! For a snack after the theater we got an apple struddel and chocolate covered shortbread. Breakfast for me was museli...SO GOOD! I had never had it but got it twice while we were there. Mama and Daddy had cinnamon scone and another apple struddel. What a great first day. To see what we did and what we ate on Monday, stop back by tomorrow!